Kfeldmar

9 hours ago, elwood_98034 said:

They have just opened the Haven bar and restaurant to everyone. 

Get in line and have fun. Oh, keep your cabin door locked, you never know which one of your 5,000 new best friends might wander in to visit.

Seriously?! When did they make that change? If that’s the case they better reduce the price of the haven. We wanted the haven to avoid busy floors and pools and have a ‘slightly’ quieter experience.....now they are letting everyone into the bar? If that’s what’s happening I might rethink the trip, save the money and just get a spa balcony-if I’m going to have to deal with crowds might as well save some money...

7 hours ago, Laszlo said:

 

 

 

This was amazing, thank you! Just confirmed that I will be spending half my day in there! 

15 hours ago, kitty-sail said:

Have been on the Escape many times and my favorite big ship. I like the upstairs hot tub/sun deck area. Private restaurant. Haven bar - met wonderful fellow cruisers.  You can stay either in the Courtyard or in one of the Haven suites outside.

We picked the Escape because it seemed to have more Haven benefits than other ships. We had researched a few ships and decided on a 5 day sailing on Escape vs a 7 day sailing on another ship. It also seems like escape was renovated more recently than other ships on NCL. I’m glad you hear you had a good experience on the ship, makes me feel like we’re making the right choice!! Now we just have to convince our friends to go haven as well so we will be able to hang out with them in the haven not just the other parts of the ship. 

12 minutes ago, Skipper305 said:

Yes, we've stayed in the H9’s on Escape and loved it. That corridor is by key access only and very quiet, plus you’ll have passes to the amazing thermal spa. When you want go to the Haven it’s just one flight of stairs up. Honestly,  It’s almost like being in the Haven proper.

Excellent Choice

 

Part of the Thermal Spa

Good size balcony, unfortunately not deep enough for lounge chairs

 

 

Omg the thermal spa 😍😍 I plan to spend half my day in there. I always love seeing photos from people’s trip SO much more than the promotional photos online. Looks just as nice in your photos!! 

5 hours ago, dexddd said:

Phissy and Sailing have covered most of the points.  We were on Escape just shy of one week from now last year in a DOS.  

 

Escape Haven best we've had but what you get vs what NCL lists is hit or miss.  Also depends what port as say NYC Haven check in area is packed.  Drinks and snacks are limited like juice, water, coffee, finger sandwiches and cookies in all ports we've been to.  We got on ship starting at 10:50 with next groups after that in sequence so not hours of ship to yourselves.

 

Depends what suite type you have.  DOS and OS will get unlimited in room waters and soda plus three bottles of booze plus champagne - they will sometimes give sparkling but supposed to be champagne but other suites it will be sparkling.  Matters to some, others could care less.  Other suites get a couple waters.  Dining in room can be tough as many have very small tables.  

 

Typically Margaritaville has been free for lunch the first day but on some cold departures it has been La Cucina.  Food Republic half off first night too although the concierge made no mention of it during welcome speech.

 

On Escape there is section of chairs port side, mid roped off until a few minutes before main show.  Never was escorted there.

 

Haven restaurant menu static.  There is an outside, covered portion as well.  There is a small courtyard menu for lunch.  Cookies, shortbread, candy, juice, water in courtyard during the day.  Snacks in room late afternoon, tell them what you like and generally they'll listen.

 

Even with drink packages, butlers can't bring free drinks to room.

 

Welcome to CC BTW.

The free drinks makes sense, it’s disappointing but it makes sense. They likely don’t want non drink package guests abusing a drink package with in-room service, by allowing visitors who don’t have a drink package consuming them. It would be all to easy to have guests in a room and only those with the drink package ordering endless free drinks-so I totally get that. 

3 hours ago, morrisretired said:

We were recently on the Epic Transatlantic from Port Canaveral to Barcelona, and were in the Haven. The Haven key cards do get you priority service, as long as no one else has punched another deck, before you insert your key card. It only worked on the 2 outside set of the front 4 starboard elevators, and not on the middle 2 elevators in that bank of 4. There is a slot at the bottom below the deck numbers. Put your card in and press the deck you want to go to. You will see Priority Service scroll across the top screen, and elevator goes directly to deck you selected. You could get on one of these 2 special elevators and get priority service, as long as another deck had not already been punched in. It does not work on any of the other 3 elevator banks, though. Also, the Assistant Concierge was on the lower Haven floor on port days, and kept one of these special elevators locked out to transport Haven Guests down, for 1 hour after the Captain's announcement you were able to go ashore. That was a nice perk.

I can’t seem to find the review I read but I do believe it was a Barcelona trio they were talking about.  Maybe it wasn’t a bad review but simply a ‘perk’ that is ship dependent, which is why most people seem angrily upset at my mention of an elevator, since they haven’t experienced it on all the ships. 

15 minutes ago, Skipper305 said:

OP looks like you’re getting the straight skinny here. The only thing I would add is be aware not all Haven rooms on the Escape are in the Haven proper. H2, 3, 4 and 5 cabins will be in the Haven complex, all others will be scattered around the ship. 

I was wondering about that!! the room we were looking at was close to the spa, and it didn’t appear to be in a separate Haven floor but was a row of 8 or so rooms near the spa. They shared the level with other amenities so I was wondering if it was separated the way other haven rooms are. 

10 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

The biggest key is to keep your expectations in check. A lot of the 'perks' you listed as being important to you I never got to take advantage of on our last cruise. Priority boarding only works if your airlines cooperate with getting you there on time. Our flight was delayed 2 hrs, so when we finally made it to the port there was no one there at all. We popped into the Haven lounge just to say we were there, but there was no employees, no food, and no drinks. 

 

Butler service is hit or miss. For us, it was a big giant miss. Outside of bringing breakfast to our room a few days, she did nothing for us. NOTHING. 

 

The Nespresso machine was actually quite odd.... it had 2 buttons, which I presume were for an espresso sized drink or a full mug of coffee. When you press the smaller button, it overflowed the espresso mugs. When you push the larger button, it overflowed the full size coffee mugs (without even adding any milk/cream). We ended up having to use the small button with the larger cups and forgo actually having espresso.

 

Welcome bottle of champagne.... we got one in our non-Haven room on our first NCL cruise. Not sure that's a perk reserved just for Haven folks.

 

Welcome snacks was a bowl of fruit. Each day the butler would bring a snack while we were out at port, but I didn't eat most of them. Yes, I'm a picky eater, but it would have been nice to be given a choice of food instead of having her bring us stuff I don't eat. I even told her I don't eat seafood, and she still kept bringing shrimp and lox. The one thing she did get right was a bowl of M&Ms for me and gummy bears for hubby. Other than that, the snacks in the room were highly overrated for us.

 

In-room dining.... the only meal our butler was willing to bring was breakfast if we left the card filled out and hanging from our door the night before. I tried to get food in the Haven pool area and was told the restaurant was closed and I could only get room service. Ok.... the staff then walked away and wouldn't let me place an order. I wasn't about to go back to my room to go back to the pool, so I went to the buffet and got my own burger and fries.

 

Haven restaurant.... on the Jade there is none. So again, maybe we missed out a bit based on the ship we were on, but again, know your ship before you assume there is one. We had Moderno available for breakfast and Cagneys available for lunch, but there was no 'private Haven dining room' for dinner that was different from what others could have.

 

Haven pool area.... you got me there. That was a godsend. I would gladly pay extra for access to the Haven pool and forgo the butler service in a regular room if that was an option. The pool was tiny, but every time we went either we were the only ones in there or there was a single person with us. The Jade had a covered area for those who liked shade, and sunny upstairs lounging for those wanting sun. That was definitely the best perk of being in Haven due to the crowds in the main area.

 

Priority seating was a bit of a joke. It was all the way off to the left side on the Jade, we would of been better off sitting with the regular folks in the center of the stage for some of the shows. Don't think your getting first row orchestra seats... again, look for reviews of your particular ship to know if it's really a perk.

 

Cocktail party... meh, I could have did without it. We had the beverage package, so didn't need the free drinks. We actually ended up not even meeting the officers at our party as we were talking with the cruise next consultant at the door and he let us in the side way rather than waiting on line. By doing so though, we bypassed the crew meet & greet. Not a priority to us, but if mingling with those folks is your thing, knock your socks off.

 

Haven only elevator? Where?? Didn't see one on the Jade, and our keycard didn't even work half the time to bring us to the Haven deck. Had to get off at 13 and walk a flight up to 14.

 

Concierge was another good perk. We had already booked everything before boarding, but he helped us change dinner reservations so we could make the cocktail party with no effort. The biggest perk with him though is getting off at the ports and final disembarking. You get walked off the ship through the secret back passageways and save a ton of time. So again, you got me there with this one.

 

Not trying to dissuade you, but again, just keep your expectations in check. Our first Haven experience was quite bad, but others tend to rave that 'once you go Haven, you never go back'. If the price is right for you, try it. But if you're justifying the price based on a list of 20 things and you only end up getting to use 2 of them... will you still be ok with what you paid? If so, go for it.

 

*Edit* The only extra fee is a tip for the butler and concierge, if you use them. We gave extra to the cabin steward as he was way more helpful and kind to us than the butler, but that is not required.

1. We always arrive for our trips a day early. We always do this so if there is a delay with an airline our itinerary won’t get messed up. Since we plan arrive a day before our plane would have to extremely late for us to not utilize priority boarding. Even a few minutes less of waiting time is fine by me. 

2. I plan to set my butler expectations early on and establish those lines of communication and identify the things I want to make my trip special. They aren’t mind readers so you need to be specific, but again, they’re human and sometimes make mistakes or just aren’t cut out for the job. If I’m paying for it, I expect to use it and will use it. If I’m not getting what I want from that, I’m sure I can reach someone at a desk and at least let them know. If our butler is great we’ve budgeted a few hundred to tip, if they barely do anything they won’t be getting much. 

3. I already know how to use an espresso and love it, once you get used to it, it’s no problem. I only drink espresso and need coffee right when I wake up. I’ve seen that some of the other room have only regular brewed coffee machines and I hate those. I also only drink my coffee with skim milk (or almond milk of available)-so I fully plan to have that be one of my requests that the butler ensure is in our room. 

4. I’ve heard plenty of stories of people getting dinner set up on their balcony by their butler no problem. 

5. We know our ship, as stated in comments above we’re looking at Norwegian Escape and it definitely has the Haven Lounge and Restaurant. 

6. We plan to get seats booked ASAP, and if the priority seats aren’t good we won’t reserve them. We want good seats regardless of it they are priority or not but we will utilize the concierge to help us book them. 

7. Cocktail party we could take it or leave it as well. It’s not really something that excites us, but merely something I was putting on the list of overall perks. 

8. Elevator: like I said in a few above comments, it was based off of someone else’s review (which was apparently misguided) and they stated they had used an elevator that went from the floor the shows were on, straight up to the haven no stops. I’ve already stated it’s being removed off the list. 

Ok so based on the responses-removing the elevators lol and adding the included on demand movies to the list. 

19 minutes ago, erdoran said:

hubby and I are big haven fans.  Some info:

1.  You do NOT get your own elevator or get to lock out other floors when you get in an elevator.  When you are being escorted somewhere by the concierge you may get to use a crew elevator, but by yourself nothing special about elevators.  Having to use the Haven card to get to your floor is sometimes a pain.

2.  As others have said, butler/concierge are not part of DSC and you should plan on tipping, even for minimal service - although our last cruise, we barely used the concierge so we gave a tip, but nowhere near what we’d ordinarily give.  Sometimes there is a concierge and assistant and you may need to tip both.  

3.  You are NOT obligated to tip the steward.  That’s what the DSC is for.  Many on CC claim to always tip the steward.  We do, and the last time we actually tipped 50 euros because she was WONDERFUL.  But there is no “requirement”, unlike butler/concierge.

4.  Don’t expect no kids.  That’s random.  There are stories about havens overrun with kids, others about zero kids.  On our last cruise, 14-day TA, there were zero kids in haven.

5.  You may want to tip the Haven bartender a bit extra because they are wonderful.  No requirement or expectation, you have tipped 20% with the beverage pkg, and you will get great service regardless.  It’s one of the considerations.  

6.  I think that’s it.  In general, other tipping expectations (Haven or not) are tour guides/drivers who should be tipped if they are decent, porters of course, and as others have said, there’s a 20% autograt on spa and booze purchases, and specialty restaurants.  Note that the employee does NOT get all of that, many are billed as “beverage and service charge” which means NCL keeps some unknown percentage.

I didn’t anticipate ‘locking out’ other floors. I had read a review by someone who said they had access to elevators near where the shows were. They stated those elevators ONLY went to the haven floor. Their description seemed as though there was a separate bay of elevators from the activities straight to the haven floors. Seems as though their review was bad, and may have been referring to a service elevator without explicitly stating it was a service elevator. This is what I was basing my information off of-clearly a bad/mistaken review by someone else. 

1 hour ago, phissy said:

Ok, lets start with...what ship are you looking at?

Jewel class ships do not have Haven Restaurant. You are on your own for dinner.

Haven private area on those ships are quite small. There were small children on our cruises and they did make a lot of noise while playing in the pool and spa and running around sun deck area. (ugh!)

Depending on Suite chosen, you will not get water bottles in cabin. We had to order water package. 

Bottle of sparkling wine is on Embarkation Day.

All cabins Balcony and above have coffee machines, just not Nespresso. They only have Ristretto and Decaf. We brought our pods.

Haven only elevators - not really. You use your card to access Haven level.

 

There is a Daily Service Charge (DSC) that is $18.00pp/day in Suites.

Many confuse the DSC with tips or gratuities.  That is not the case. They are two different things.

 

This does not cover drink, meal, Butler, Concierge, Room Steward Gratuities. NCL has mandatory 20% on drinks, dinners, spa, etc purchases on the ship. Also, added to packages either received as promo or purchased before cruise.

Depending on the number of days of your cruise, the required 20% gratuity is added to packages purchased before cruise.

For example, 3 specialty dining package will have approx $35 dollars added to your cruise fare. NCL decides the value of packages and then you pay the gratuity on that.  

You are able to select all promos when booking in the Haven or Suites.

You will have gratuities added to your cruise fare when booking.

NCL used to not charge those to Haven or Suite guests but, quietly changed overnight last year.

Now, everyone pay. 

 

 

 

We're looking at the Norwegian Escape which has the Haven Restaurant. 

23 minutes ago, noobcruiser said:

In-Room:

No Charges for on-demand movies

Thnks! I'll add it to the list! 

5 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Substantial gratuities for your butler and concierge, who do not share in the regular service charge pool.

 

Embarkation priority is not necessarily that much of a benefit. I have sometimes boarded within minutes of haven passengers arriving at the same time.  You do get a butler to escort you aboard and show you your cabin. 

Thank you. We had accounted for a couple hundred to tip the butler. I'm needy and anticipate utilizing the service a bit, so we wanted to see what else was hidden so we could plan accordingly (and determine what things we truly need/don't need). 

Looking to book a Haven Suite for Fall of 2020, so I have some time to prepare (read: overthink). We are also first time cruisers and want to do it right rather than do a budget trip and find out we have hidden fees and limitations. 

Based on our research we have compiled the following perks of Haven suites: 
Anything you would add to this list of perks? 

The Haven Suites

Priority boarding (this is our biggest draw) with private waiting area. NO WAITING IN LINES TO BOARD! Get on and off the ship quickly and easily. Haven only waiting areas have drinks and snacks provided. When boarding you get access to the haven restaurant and sun decks to drink and eat hours ahead of guests who are boarding in the line. Few more hours of precious vacation time.
 

In-Room Perks:
-Butler service when needed
-Nespresso Machines other rooms don’t have coffee
-Welcome bottle of champagne/sparkling wine of debarkation day
-Welcome bottles water
-Welcome Snacks, and nightly snacks delivered (plus additional butler delivered snacks when you want)
-In-suite white linen dining and room service (no room service fee like other rooms)
 

On Ship Perks:
-Access to haven only Restaurant, Bar, sun deck and pool  (less busy and adult only)-This was another big draw to us. Were leaving our toddler at home and its nice to have places that aren't full of children so we wont waste our previous vacation time feeling guilty LOL. We also aren't doing many excursions. My husband is built like an NFL linebacker and doesn't fit into a lot of the height and weight requirements for excursions. Hes 6'6 and 350lbs.....so we basically cant do anything off the ship other than chill on a beach somewhere. Most time will be spent lounging on the ship sundecks, using the spa/gym and drinking :) 
-Priority seating, booking to shows as well as an escort to your seats at the larger venue shows
-Exclusive invites for dining/cocktail party with captain and officers (itinerary dependent)
-Haven only elevators to go straight up to room no waiting at other floors
-Concierge to help with booking shows and excursions
-Access to the main dining options (some select dining excluded but do have access to the haven’t restaurant as the included specialty if you aren't getting the dining package)

QUESTION: We fully plan to get the extra dinning package and drink package. Are gratuities included when we book, or as part of the daily fee? I read somewhere that every time you order a drink they add a gratuity fee to your bill that isn't part of the overall gratuities charged to your room?? If anyone could clarify that would be great! 

QUESTION 2: Any "hidden" fees to beware of as a first time cruiser for the Haven??